MIAMI MALL MEANDERING

It's time for me to start envying you guys!! It's been COLD down here - not Chicago cold, but for Florida, when they talk about temps dropping to 30s, THAT'S brr-rrr-rring. Paul's Regional Execs were in this week, so he was noticeably tired when he came home. Said they the area managers just do not have the organzation and work ethic he's used to from Chicago & DC. The one thing that seemed to cheer him up was a call at the end of the week from he friends ( Amy, who replaced him at O'Hare, and Lisa, O'Hare's General Mgr.) They told Paul that the Exec reviewing them informed them that Paul was doing an outstanding job and not even to THINK of trying to get him back into the Chicago area. Paul, of course, has other ideas!!

Larry & I went grocery shopping at Publix grocery. Drives Larry nuts because the cashiers are slow and our gal was chattering away with her friend (in Spanish) the whole time. Since it's so unseasonably chilly, we went to a Mall to see if I could find an inexpensive sweatshirt (I do have to launder my ONE once in awhile). Guess what?? Seems there's no such thing ... even looked at Tommy Hilfiger, R. Lauren, etc in Macy's, looked in other stores including Champs sporting goods and Old Navy. They only sell "hoodies" - guess they figure if you're going to buy something "warm", you go all out. They had lots of fine knit, rather thin sweaters, but NO regular sweatshirts. (Em, Hanna, Izzy and Morgan - all the Spring things are in, plus many, many bathing suits; Forever 21 is one of the few stores in these Malls that have lots of shoppers in them. Clothing is quite funky, gauzy - lots of big, heavy, Spring-colored jewelery and large, tote-type handbags...and did you know that shades of gray are the "new" color?? Kinda dull for Spring, don't you think??)

Week end came. Visited different large shopping Malls (still chilly so the beach is not an option) on Saturday. The Falls is an outdoor Mall similar to OakBrook, but Paul thinks they should have a really big "dynamic" waterfall. They just have little rippling affairs with spouting fishes.

 We arrived before stores opened; so we purchased Sunday's paper and went into a '50s-type diner for breakfast. 

The place looked sorta authentic; but the food left something to be desired. Paul ordered biscuits & sausage gravy. When it came, it had thin sausage patties on each biscuit-half and the gravy had little lumps in it. The waitress, at Paul's request, asked the cook what it was and he said "sausage." We decided it was grits mixed in. They're so used to "grits" in Fla that the cook probably thought we were talking about something else entirely. Paul just picked out the little pea-sized lumps and ate the rest...said it wasn't bad.

We were going to a movie at this Mall, but the one we wanted to see didn't start until 4:00 pm; ones before that time were mostly kids' movies; so we drove further up the line to another great Mall - the Shoppes (yes, Jonferes - shoppes) at Sunset. Reminded us of Disney World. Had paved streets and the shops were arranged along them with cute storefronts and, of course, the chain stores had the same recognizable logos & facades. We ran in and out of them; tried various chairs & machines in Brookstone; punched all the "sound" gizmo buttons in most ot the stuffed animals at a "too expensive" children's store (Since Valentine's Day is coming up, the toy stores are trying to lure grandmas & uncles into buying anything that says "I wuv you" or something decidedly suggestive.) Bri'-boob, I won't relate what the gorilla had to say!!

The sun began to warm things up. We checked the 24 AMC theatre (yes, Jonferes - theatre) directory and our movie was starting in 30 minutes. Got our popcorn and went to see Frost/Nixon . Very good. Coming out, we saw that "Milk" was playing at the theatre down the line. As Paul got a "rock out of his shoe" and the Frost crowd disappeared, we filed into "Milk" with 7 minutes to spare. (Do not let impressionable children view this blog!) Another good movie
- we have two more to go before Oscartime ... Journeyed home, let the doggies out, ate chicken pot pies, watched TV for awhile,I retired to my room with my book.

Sunday dawned a little warmer. Walked to church with Larry & doggies; met P & L's neighbor there. She's cute, very nice Puerto Rican lady whose husband & daughter had gone to Orlando to visit. She drove me home from church & then Paul, Larry & I just sat out on the patio most of the day - in the warm sun; felt so-o nice after the cold spell. There were three b'day parties going on in the park. You can aways tell - big blow-up play structures and loud music with the "limbo pole" being a main event. I figure Jason will not sit on the patio when he comes to visit. He'll want to get in on all that hurauche music!! P & L say it's a weekly thing - party, party - mostly little kids.)

'Tis Monday morn and it's getting nicer & nicer weather-wise. Paul is going to take some time off this week & ramble around - see what's happening. There's a food & wine festival we hope to hit the week end of Feb. 19-22. All is well - sorry the blogging is mundane... But - Just wait!! Something exciting will most assuredly turn up - and then - Blogarama!!

'Til then, hopefully,

Marma